Huawei’s Honor sub-brand has announced two new smartphones for the mid-range category. They are the Honor 8X and the Honor 8X Max. Both phones are not just bigger versions of each other but also differ with respect to specifications.

Honor 8X

The Honor 8X has a 6.5-inch 1080 x 2340 screen with a notch. This is the same type of notch we have seen on other Honor phones this year. Honor says the phone has a 91% screen to body ratio, a 19.5:9 aspect ratio, a 4.25mm narrow chin and has a COF packaging process.

The phone is also the first smartphone to have a TUV Rheinland certified display. The certification means the device passes TUV Rheinland’s test for safe displays.

The Honor 8X has a unique design. The back is covered in a 15-layer glare 2.5D glass which has two different textures. The frame is made of metal and there is glass on the front too.

The Honor 8X is powered by a Kirin 710 processor paired with 6GB of RAM and 128GB of expandable storage. It has a 16MP f/2.0 front-facing camera with tons of features and a 20MP + 2MP dual camera combo on the rear. The rear camera has AI scene recognition which changes the camera settings to best suit what you are trying to shoot. There are also tons of shooting modes including portrait mode, slow-motion recording, and time-lapse photography.

The phone runs Android 8.1 Oreo with EMUI 8.2 on top. It has a 3,750mAh battery but sadly only supports 5V/2A charging via a MicroUSB port. The Honor 8X supports using two SIM card (nano only) and a MicroSD card slot at the same time. There is Bluetooth 4.2 and support for aptX audio. It also has a rear-mounted fingerprint scanner and supports GPU Turbo.

Price and Availability

The Honor 8X comes in black, blue, red, and purple. It is priced at ¥1899 (~$240) for the 6GB RAM + 128GB version. There is also a 4GB RAM + 64GB version priced at ¥1399 (~$177) and a 6GB RAM + 64GB version priced at ¥1599 (~$202). Pre-orders begin today up until September 10 while main sales will commence on September 11 at 10 AM.

Honor 8X Max

The Honor 8X max has a 7.12-inch water-drop display with a 1080 x 2244 resolution. It also has a TUV Rheinland certification which means the display is safe for the eyes.

Powering the Honor 8X Max is the Snapdragon 636 processor paired with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage. The phone has support for storage expansion, so users can add up to an additional 256GB of storage via the MicroSD card slot. There is also a Snapdragon 660 version which has 6GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

There are dual cameras on the rear of the phone – a 16MP f/2.0 sensor + 2MP f/2.4 sensor. Just like the Honor 8X, the camera sensors are arranged vertically on the 8X Max. The front camera is an 8MP f/2.0 sensor. There is also a fingerprint scanner on the rear of the phone.

Honor is advertising the 8X Max as a media consumption device so it has packed it with stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos audio technology. It also has a large 5,000mAh battery with support for 9V/2A fast charging. It can also charge other devices including the Honor band via USB OTG.

Price and Availability

The phone comes in three color variants – red, blue, and black. Pricing for the Honor 8X Max starts at ¥1499 (~$189) for the 4GB RAM + 64GB version with a Snapdragon 636 processor while the 128GB version with the same processor is priced at ¥1799 (~$227). The Snapdragon 660 version has not yet been announced.

Pre-orders are already live on the official Honor store. Interested buyers will have to pay a booking deposit of ¥99 (~$13) but will get a free pair of Honor wired earphones.